The term “energy harvesting” has been widely adopted to describe any process in which very small amounts of power are generated from energy that would be otherwise wasted. Piezoelectric energy harvesting systems use piezoelectric transducers to generate electricity from movement in various load bearing surfaces. For example, systems have been proposed in which piezoelectric transducers are placed under pedestrian walkways, road surfaces and rail tracks. Road surfaces, pedestrian walkways and rail tracks all flex to a degree, in order to provide a surface which is less damaging and more comfortable to the vehicles or pedestrians moving over the surface. When a vehicle moves over a road surface, movement in the road surface can be used to activate a piezoelectric electric transducer and therefore generate electricity. While the amount of power generated by such systems may be low, sufficient power may be generated to power low power loads such as street lamps and ticket barriers.
While several bespoke systems have been proposed for piezoelectric electric energy harvesting, there is a lack of viable off-the-shelf products in this sector. The present invention provides a product which addresses this need.